http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/Special_Projects/ll_splprojects.nsf/vwFiles/Report_Executive_Summary_Recommendations.pdf/$file/Report_Executive_Summary_Recommendations.pdf

One of the Recommendations that has government support that concerns me is where the non-government organisations take over the fostering of children from DoCS. To my knowledge I believe the Department of Community Services retains roughly 80% of the foster parents in NSW with the remaining numbers retained by NGO’s like Wesley Delmar, LWB, Barnardos etc.

It worries me that organisations who do make money from children being in care also have a role in early intervention.

I would suggest a dangerous motivation could be present for early intervention to fail.

I believe the children will not and have not done better being scattered throughout different organisations. To my knowledge caseworkers have limited to no contact with these NGO placed children that are supposed to be under DoCS guardianship.

I would like to see DoCS improved whereas Justice Woods seems to indicate the only way for the department to progress is to take away the very thing, I believe, they should have total jurisdiction over.

This dilution of their function will, in my opinion, lead to more systemic abuse of young Australians.

not sure if you noticed the writing under the coat of arms on the document..The description of the arms embodies the motto Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites..(Newly Risen,..How Bright Thou Shinest).

the report is only a recomendation but has some strange comments
Structure and Reform
Recommendation..2.1
The KiDS Core Redesign Project should be funded and implemented.
..Other matters
a.The arrangements by which DoCS is scrutinised by other agencies are
complex.
..The Key Reforms
Amendment of the Children and Young Persons(Care and Protection)Act 1998..is proposed

..a.referring them to a newly created Regional Intake and Referral Service...That service is to be located within a non-government organisation and it..will determine the nature of the services required
..Reports made to DoCS, which are assessed as being a report that a child or/young person is at risk of significant harm should be investigated by DoCS

..The Regional Intake and Referral Service should be operated and staffed by a non-government organisation
Recommendation 23.6
DoCS should centralise its Allegations Against Employees Unit
Recommendation 23.7

DoCS should revise the findings available following an investigation into..an allegation against an employee
..Agencies,including non-government organisations should be free to exchange information

..Recommendation 24.4
The boundaries of key human services and justice agencies should be
aligned.
Recommendation 23.3
The Community Services (Complaints Reviews and Monitoring)Act
1993 should be amended by:i.repealing s.35(1)(b)and (c)
ii. replacing the requirement for an annual report,in s.43 with a
requirement that a report be made every two years.

..Recommendation 10.10
Caseworkers should be employed on a temporary basis or re-assigned
from Brighter Futures or OOHC work as case management is transferred
to the NGO sector,

OUG:”the report is only a recommendation but has some strange comments”

http://www.acwa.asn.au/downloads/wood/response/MR_NCOSS.pdf
Okay you saw more than me… this quote forwarded from you:
“..Recommendation 10.10

Caseworkers should be employed on a temporary basis or re-assigned
from Brighter Futures or OOHC work as case management is transferred
to the NGO sector,”

Does this suggest that Justice Woods is dismantling DoCS?

its a very dificult document to read..[deliberatly so]..the intro is a lot of double speak...so i scimed though to the recomendations[read the last one first]
Chapter 25 DoCS funded non-government service system
Recommendation 25.1
All NSW Government funding to NGOs delivering universal,secondary
and tertiary services to children,young persons and their families to
prevent or otherwise address child protection concerns should be
reviewed,...so as to establish a coordinated system for the allocation of their funded resources that will eliminate unnecessary overlap and provide for the delivery of service where most needed.

i joined that with the first recomendation[2;1]..forming the new..The KiDS Core Redesign Project should be funded and implemented...with the new recomendations to investigate employeees..[NGO's arnt directly employees of docs]

with the comment in the intro...<<''DoCS has undergone a period of significant reform since 2002 when it received a substantial injection of funds which took the annual budget in 2007/08 to more
than $1.2 billion.

While,in 2008,many of those reforms have been implemented or are underway,insufficient time has passed for the benefits to
be fully evident.>>...that joins to..[2 de link]..<<A Shared Approach to Child Wellbeing Action Plan sets out what the Government wants to achieve over the next five years..and has been accompanied by a $230
million investment in what is described as Stage 1 funding.

Further funding is to be considered as part of the State 2009-10 Budget to be announced in June.
Key features of the Action Plan include:
• Approximately $100 million of the Stage 1 investment will be allocated to NGO program delivery.
• Additional resources for universal health,early childhood education and Triple P parenting program.
• Expansion of Brighter Futures to provide support to an additional 200 families..this growth money to be allocated to NGOs.
• Consideration of transfer of all Brighter Futures to NGOs

anyhow it smells like political payback[to me]..as well as seperating the new rules..[egzempting ngo's from them..[who knows]

Any change jewely has to be good.
The history of child welfare in this country is a shameful one.
Posters may join the thread who can tell of rape, in the hands of those who came before DOCs.
We do not need to go that far back, threads exist here telling of dreadful neglect in every state and even the NT.
We could talk of dead or abused children forever here.
But DOCs is a beast, its dedicated staff are not able to do the job , and less dedicated are unable to be removed.
Application of whitewash to hide faults seems to take more work hours than looking after kids.
This country must do far better,get rid of DOCS and its dead hand .

The problems with DOCS stem from the same malaise that afflicts so much of our bureaucracy, which is that there is no personal accountability for decisions made, provided the right forms have been used. Coupled with that is the fact that many of those people who are attracted to jobs in fields such as child welfare are driven by their own agendas, which may not be compatible with the rights or best interests of others.

Combined with that is the fact that the interests of the Departmental hierarchy are best served by having more staff, so there is a strong incentive to make any problems appear to be both worse than reality and due entirely to a lack of staff and funding. This leads to poorly-informed decision-making, which is never a good thing, even in trivial matters let alone serious abuse.

Then there is the pressure for DOCS and some other agencies to be Thought Police, catching problems before they occur. Even without discussing the civil liberties aspects, that is an impossible task and can only lead to the organisations receiving less cooperation and the frontline staff becoming demoralised.

The only interaction I've had with DOCS in Qld was when my ex's new boyfriend's ex accused her of abuse. I won't go into details other than to say it was both trivial and risible, but I was required, with no details being provided, to attend a meeting with two DOCS workers. The initial phone call was extremely uninformative other than for the advice (threat) that if I didn't attend, DOCS would make a decision and I would no longer be part of the process. I suspect that I would not have been anyway if I had not been a custodial parent.

That complaint used up at least 2 man-hours of work time just in the meeting, let alone the rest of the process and it was so minor that I literally laughed at them when told.

As long as there is no "garbage-filter" applied by the people in DOCS, the waste will go on. Woods was about applying that filter.